Least Favorite Assigned Reading?

[The DARK]

Think back to your high school and college days.

I personally couldn't stand Camus's The Stranger and Sartre's The Flies.

[el_chode]

Think back to your high school and college days.

I personally couldn't stand Camus's The Stranger and Sartre's The Flies.

As a Philosophy major, you just cut me deep...

Actually, the Stranger is a bastard. It's part of (sort of) a longer novel called "A Happy Death" that is way more intense.

Sartre is annoying, but has his moments. He's still a hack. To use his own language, he often comes off as the textbook subjective  playing the part of the objective.

Anyway, I have to defer to my high school days and reading goddamn Jane Eyre and the "boy version" I was told of Catcher in the Rye. It's not fair making boys read Jane Eyre, and it's not fair making anyone read the original Emofest of Catcher.

College, the worst I had to read was some rants by Andrea Dworkin as part of my contemporary philosophy class.

[.Walt]

I'd agree with Jane Eyre being one. And also Walden.

[aMillionDreams]

Another philosophy major here to defend The Stranger.  I loved that book.  And, yes, Satre is a hack.  If you want to read some good Satre just skip it and read Nietzsche.

My most despised required reading were any of the romantics, Jane Eyre, Withering Heights, et al.

[mjkoehler]

My Antonia. God what an awful droning piece of crap that was.

[MarkW]

Think back to your high school and college days.

I personally couldn't stand Camus's The Stranger and Sartre's The Flies.

I had to do Camus' L'Etranger in French.  Double torture.

Also can't stand Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, any of the Brontes.

[jones]

Beowulf.  I think I actually had to go to summer school one year because I refused to turn in a report on it.

[NoVa_NoLa]

Philosophy minor here, but I encountered Camus and the Stranger in French class in high school.  I later had to read it in English.  I didn't mind it.  It certainly wasn't the worst.  Immanuel Kant, now there's a writer that I'll probably never read again unless forced.

Worst reading assignment for me was probably the Grapes of Wrath.  Compounded by the fact that we were forced to watch the movie, too.

[capt. scotty]

Hmm....I didnt usually read the assigned readings, just got the cliff notes, so I dont know.

I think the only book I remember liking in high school was Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart...luckily, we read that one in class so I didnt actually have to read it.

[el_chode]

Philosophy minor here, but I encountered Camus and the Stranger in French class in high school.  I later had to read it in English.  I didn't mind it.  It certainly wasn't the worst.  Immanuel Kant, now there's a writer that I'll probably never read again unless forced.

Worst reading assignment for me was probably the Grapes of Wrath.  Compounded by the fact that we were forced to watch the movie, too.

I took an entire semester on Kant.

My memory is sparse from that class. AWFUL. Great professor who made it digestible, but AWFUL

[ms. yvon]

i hated reading "the fountainhead, " by ayn rand.  i don't think i hated her prose style so much as her philosophy.  she still makes me angry.

flip side:  i loved reading "grapes of wrath," nova.
there is a scene in the film of ma packing the night before they set out on the road that is burned in my memory.  she is sitting in front of the mirror holding earrings to her ears.  so beautiful and sad (crazy props to john ford and DP gregg toland {also shot citizen kane})

[xmascriminal]

WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS. Man I hate that book.

[el_chode]

WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS. Man I hate that book.

You, sir, have no soul and your heart is three sizes too small

[Ruckus]

WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS. Man I hate that book.

You, sir, have no soul and your heart is three sizes too small

Agreed Chode.
WTF!?? Criminal! >:( >:( >:(

I think we had to read that in 7th grade and I loved it so much I read it 2x before our assignment was due.  That was the 1st book I read that ever made me.... :'(

I hated reading Falkner and lengthier Steinbeck and all things Shakespeare.

I did, however, enjoy the Canterbury Tales.

I have great resentment towards many of my English classes growing up because of the Western skewed literature filled with biblical allegory.  As a non Caucasian who had never picked up a bible in my entire life, I got punished for not recognizing every subtle biblical reference.

[Ruckus]

Oh yeah, Scarlet Letter sucked.  Agreed on My Antonia.

[el_chode]

WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS. Man I hate that book.

You, sir, have no soul and your heart is three sizes too small

Agreed Chode.
WTF!?? Criminal! >:( >:( >:(

I think we had to read that in 7th grade and I loved it so much I read it 2x before our assignment was due.  That was the 1st book I read that ever made me.... :'(

I hated reading Falkner and lengthier Steinbeck and all things Shakespeare.

I did, however, enjoy the Canterbury Tales.

I have great resentment towards many of my English classes growing up because of the Western skewed literature filled with biblical allegory.  As a non Caucasian who had never picked up a bible in my entire life, I got punished for not recognizing every subtle biblical reference.

We didn't really key in on the bible references at least, but maybe because we have a heavy jewish population...I guess that's like half an excuse, right? The only thing I remember that came close was knowing how to pick out a christ figure.

Still, I think my all time favorite reads came from 7th grade when it was the Iliad and Odyssey. I don't know why but that really captured my imagination the most.

I also enjoyed reading Graham Greene and Herman Hesse stuff my Junior Year of high school

[el_chode]

I also have this unsatisfied need to one day own a coon hound and go on adventures.

[The DARK]

I didn't hate all of The Stranger; the imagery was pretty nice. It just could have been so much more with the plotting and characterization given the time used. I like some of Camus's other works. The Flies, however was preachy crap.

I had to write a definition essay earlier this year on existentialism with those two books and two other short Sartre plays. Only problem is that all of them seemed to be relating to a different philosoply, and I disagreed with a ton of the decisions the writers made. I got a D, and couldn't have cared less. Irony much?  ;)

In contrast, I'm writing an essay on One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest right now, and I'm enjoying it so much more.

This thread is mostly inspired by the fact that I'm reading Heart of Darkness soon, and I've heard from some that it might be the worst bit of "classic" literature ever.

[Ruckus]

I didn't hate all of The Stranger; the imagery was pretty nice. It just could have been so much more with the plotting and characterization given the time used. I like some of Camus's other works. The Flies, however was preachy crap.

I had to write a definition essay earlier this year on existentialism with those two books and two other short Sartre plays. Only problem is that all of them seemed to be relating to a different philosoply, and I disagreed with a ton of the decisions the writers made. I got a D, and couldn't have cared less. Irony much?  ;)

In contrast, I'm writing an essay on One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest right now, and I'm enjoying it so much more.

This thread is mostly inspired by the fact that I'm reading Heart of Darkness soon, and I've heard from some that it might be the worst bit of "classic" literature ever.

I didn't know they gave out "D's" in high school unless you didn't hand it in until the year ended.  What kinda uber genius private school did you attend? ;D

Conrad is a rough read.  Ugh.  I did do a comparison paper way back when between Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now.  It was doo doo. ;D

[el_chode]

I read heart of darkness but don't remember much about it so I can't provide guidance.

I hated Sartre in my existentialism class for the most part. The most I got out of the philosophy was a few talking points and the moral philosophy of "one should live their life not out of fear of punishment from a divine being but because you've got to live with yourself for the rest of your life"

that, and from A Happy Death (which does a hell of a lot more with the character of Mersault, but the story meanders a lot more as a result and doesn't have the punchy anti-climax of an ending). It does have my favorite quote:

"It's a kind of spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money, for money buys time and time buys happiness"